Method and system to display, modify or substitute the contents of self-describing objects

ABSTRACT

A method and system to decompose, display, modify and substitute the contents of self-describing objects is presented. A user-friendly graphical user interface is designed to facilitate the processing of these objects. Since objects can be arbitrarily complex, the presentation of information in a clear and concise manner is critically important. The user can modify the values for existing objects, and by using the copy and paste operations, the user can construct new objects. These changes are made through the graphical user interface where the contents of the object is displayed and controls are provided to modify existing objects or to create new objects. The particular embodiment deals with CORBA objects of type ANY. Objects of ANY type include a Helper class to support the insertion and extraction of information. This class is dynamically created and invoked to assist in obtaining the contents from the ANY type. There are also methods to help narrow the type of objects. By utilizing these self-describing features, the present embodiment allows a user to decompose, display, and modify CORBA objects of type ANY, and to construct new objects of CORBA type ANY.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Technical Field

[0002] The present invention relates generally to an improved dataprocessing system and in particular to a method and an apparatus forprocessing self-describing objects. Still more particularly, the presentinvention provides a method to decompose, display, and modifyself-describing objects and to create new self-describing objectsthrough cut and paste operations.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] Two recent trends in computing have been the development ofdistributed computing systems and the implementation of software usingan object-oriented paradigm. Distributed computing systems are based ona client-server model. For any particular transaction, the clientrequests that a server perform a particular service, such as looking upor modifying a data value. In a distributed environment, the samemachine may be a client for some requests and a server responding toother requests. The implementation of the client-server model is mosteasily accomplished using an object-oriented approach. CORBA (CommonObject Request Broker Architecture) was developed by the ObjectManagement Group (OMG). This nonprofit consortium was formed in 1989 andhas membership of over 500 software vendors, developers, and users. Amajor goal of OMG is to create standards that allow interoperability andportability of distributed object-oriented applications.

[0005] Some of the services provided by CORBA are directory and namingservices to locate remote objects, persistent object services, andtransaction services. A transaction is an operation or set of operationsthat must be performed atomically. There are two outcomes for atransaction: it is committed resulting in data values being changed ifappropriate or it is aborted, which means data values must be restoredto their pre-transaction values. CORBA provides these services in alanguage independent and platform independent manner.

[0006] There are alternatives to CORBA, but these approaches havelimitations. Socket programming is efficient in a homogeneousprogramming environment but it is low level, it cannot handle complextypes well, and it does not work well in a heterogeneous environment.Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) provide a function-oriented interface tosocket level communications but do not overcome the limitations alreadycited. The Distributed Computing Environment (DCE) by Open SoftwareFoundation (OSF) is an interesting approach but not widely accepted. TheDistributed Component Object Model (DCOM) from Microsoft only targetsMicrosoft Windows environments. The Remote Method Invocation (RMI) ofJava is very similar to CORBA in design but is Java dependent.Consequently, CORBA provides the services necessary for distributingcomputing in the most language independent and machine independentmanner.

[0007] CORBA is an object-oriented system so it interfaces easily withobject-oriented languages such as C++ or Java. But non-object-orientedlanguages such as C or COBOL may also use CORBA. There are severalcomponents to the CORBA environment. The Object Request Broker (ORB)facilitates communications by finding remote objects and handlingparameter values and return values for method invocation. The InterfaceDefinition Language (IDL) specifies interfaces in a language independentfashion. The CORBA system maps these interfaces to the appropriatetarget programming languages. CORBA implements interface inheritance.

[0008] IDL supports many primitive data types, such as void, boolean,char, float, double, short, long, unsigned, and string. CORBA alsosupports a variety of constructed types such as enumerated, structure,union, interface, sequence, array, and exception. There is also an “ANY”type that can be used for parameters or return values. This will containany combination of built-in types for IDL. ANY types carry alongadditional methods that help process the object. It would beadvantageous to have a software package that allows a programmer todecompose, display, modify or substitute objects of type ANY, in thecase of the CORBA environment, or, in general, for environments thatcontain self-describing types.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0009] The present invention discloses a method and system to decompose,display, modify and substitute the contents of self-describing objects.A user-friendly graphical user interface is designed to facilitate theprocessing of these objects. Since objects can be arbitrarily complex,the presentation of information in a clear and concise manner iscritically important. The user can modify the values for existingobjects, and by using the copy and paste operations, the user canconstruct new objects. These changes are made through the graphical userinterface where the contents of the object is displayed and controls areprovided to modify existing objects or to create new objects.

[0010] The particular embodiment of this invention deals with CORBAobjects of type ANY. Objects of ANY type include a Helper class tosupport the insertion and extraction of information. This class isdynamically created and invoked to assist in obtaining the contents fromthe ANY type. There are also methods to help narrow the type of objects.By utilizing these self-describing features, the present embodiment ofthis invention allows a user to decompose, display, and modify CORBAobjects of type ANY, and to construct new objects of CORBA type ANY.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] The novel features believed characteristic of the invention areset forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as wellas a preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof,will best be understood by reference to the following detaileddescription of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings, wherein:

[0012]FIG. 1 is a pictorial representation of a distributed dataprocessing system in which the present invention may be implemented;

[0013]FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a data processing system that may beimplemented as a server in accordance with a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention;

[0014]FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a data processing system that may beimplemented as a client in accordance with a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention;

[0015]FIG. 4 is a screen image showing the Type options for an ANYobject in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention;

[0016]FIG. 5 is a screen image showing how a type can be changed toboolean in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention;

[0017]FIG. 6 is a screen image showing how to copy an object to theclipboard in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention;

[0018]FIG. 7 is a screen image showing how to paste an object from theclipboard in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention;

[0019]FIG. 8 is a screen image of an ANY object after the paste iscompleted in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention;

[0020]FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating the extraction of data from anANY type in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention;

[0021]FIG. 10 is Java source code illustrating the extract of data froman ANY type in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention;

[0022]FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating the extraction of data from acomplex type in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention;

[0023]FIG. 12 is Java source code illustrating the extraction of datafrom a complex type in accordance with a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention;

[0024]FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating the insertion of primitivedata into an ANY type in accordance with a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention;

[0025]FIG. 14 is Java source code illustrating the insertion ofprimitive data into an ANY type in accordance with a preferredembodiment of the present invention;

[0026]FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating the insertion of complex datainto an ANY type in accordance with a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention;

[0027]FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating the building of a parameterlist for insertion of complex data into an ANY type in accordance with apreferred embodiment of the present invention; and

[0028]FIG. 17 is Java source code illustrating the insertion of complexdata into an ANY type in accordance with a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0029] With reference now to the figures, and in particular withreference to FIG. 1, a pictorial representation of a distributed dataprocessing system is depicted in which the present invention may beimplemented.

[0030] Distributed data processing system 100 is a network of computersin which the present invention may be implemented. Distributed dataprocessing system 100 contains network 102, which is the medium used toprovide communications links between various devices and computersconnected within distributed data processing system 100. Network 102 mayinclude permanent connections, such as wire or fiber optic cables, ortemporary connections made through telephone connections.

[0031] In the depicted example, servers 104, 114, 116 and 118 areconnected to network 102. Storage units 106 and 122 are also connectedto network 102, providing backup support for any or all of servers 104,114, 116 and 118. Storage unit 122 provides dedicated backup support forserver 104. In addition, clients 108, 110 and 112 are also connected tonetwork 102. These three clients may be, for example, personal computersor network computers. For purposes of this application, a networkcomputer is any computer coupled to a network, which receives a programor other application from another computer coupled to the network.Distributed data processing system 100 may include additional servers,clients, and other devices not shown.

[0032] In the depicted example, servers 104, 114, 116 and 118 providestorage for data from clients 108, 110 and 112. These four servers alsoprovide data, such as boot files, operating system images, andapplications to clients 108, 110 and 112. Clients 108, 110 and 112 areclients to one or all of servers 104, 114, 116 and 118. Support for aparticular application being performed on one of clients 108, 110 and112 may be by one of servers 104, 114, 116 and 118. Additionally servers104, 114, 116 and 118 may provide backup support for each other. In theevent of a server failure, a redundant backup server may be allocated bythe network administrator, in which case requests directed to the failedserver are routed to the redundant backup server.

[0033] In a similar manner, data backup support is provided by storageunits 106 and 122 for servers 104, 114, 116 and 118. However, ratherthan the network administrator allocating a data backup storage unit ateach use, data backup allocation is set, and data backup transfer occursat low usage times, typically after midnight, between any of servers104, 114, 116 and 118 and storage units 106 and 122.

[0034] In the depicted example, distributed data processing system 100may be the Internet, with network 102 representing a worldwidecollection of networks and gateways that use the TCP/IP suite ofprotocols to communicate with one another. At the heart of the Internetis a backbone of high-speed data communication lines between major nodesor host computers consisting of thousands of commercial, government,education, and other computer systems that route data and messages. Ofcourse, distributed data processing system 100 also may be implementedas a number of different types of networks, such as, for example, anintranet or a local area network.

[0035]FIG. 1 is intended as an example and not as an architecturallimitation for the processes of the present invention. For example, thisinvention can work on a standalone machine where both the clientapplication and the server both reside.

[0036] Referring to FIG. 2, a block diagram of a data processing systemwhich may be implemented as a server, such as server 104 in FIG. 1, isdepicted in accordance with the present invention. Data processingsystem 200 may be a symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) system including aplurality of processors 202 and 204 connected to system bus 206.Alternatively, a single processor system may be employed. Also connectedto system bus 206 is memory controller/cache 208, which provides aninterface to local memory 209. I/O bus bridge 210 is connected to systembus 206 and provides an interface to I/O bus 212. Memorycontroller/cache 208 and I/O bus bridge 210 may be integrated asdepicted.

[0037] Peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus bridge 214 connectedto I/O bus 212 provides an interface to PCI local bus 216. A number ofmodems 218-220 may be connected to PCI bus 216. Typical PCI busimplementations will support four PCI expansion slots or add-inconnectors. Communications links to network computers 108-112 in FIG. 1may be provided through modem 218 and network adapter 220 connected toPCI local bus 216 through add-in boards.

[0038] Additional PCI bus bridges 222 and 224 provide interfaces foradditional PCI buses 226 and 228, from which additional modems ornetwork adapters may be supported. In this manner, server 200 allowsconnections to multiple network computers. A memory mapped graphicsadapter 230 and hard disk 232 may also be connected to I/O bus 212 asdepicted, either directly or indirectly.

[0039] Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that thehardware depicted in FIG. 2 may vary. For example, other peripheraldevices, such as optical disk drives and the like, also may be used inaddition to or in place of the hardware depicted. The depicted exampleis not meant to imply architectural limitations with respect to thepresent invention.

[0040] The data processing system depicted in FIG. 2 may be, forexample, an IBM RISC/System 6000, a product of International BusinessMachines Corporation in Armonk, N.Y., running the Advanced InteractiveExecutive (AIX) operating system.

[0041] With reference now to FIG. 3, a block diagram of a dataprocessing system in which the present invention may be implemented isillustrated. Data processing system 300 is an example of a clientcomputer. Data processing system 300 employs a peripheral componentinterconnect (PCI) local bus architecture. Although the depicted exampleemploys a PCI bus, other bus architectures, such as Micro Channel andISA, may be used. Processor 302 and main memory 304 are connected to PCIlocal bus 306 through PCI bridge 308. PCI bridge 308 may also include anintegrated memory controller and cache memory for processor 302.Additional connections to PCI local bus 306 may be made through directcomponent interconnection or through add-in boards. In the depictedexample, local area network (LAN) adapter 310, SCSI host bus adapter312, and expansion bus interface 314 are connected to PCI local bus 306by direct component connection. In contrast, audio adapter 316, graphicsadapter 318, and audio/video adapter (A/V) 319 are connected to PCIlocal bus 306 by add-in boards inserted into expansion slots. Expansionbus interface 314 provides a connection for a keyboard and mouse adapter320, modem 322, and additional memory 324. In the depicted example, SCSIhost bus adapter 312 provides a connection for hard disk drive 326, tapedrive 328, CD-ROM drive 330, and digital video disc read only memorydrive (DVD-ROM) 332. Typical PCI local bus implementations will supportthree or four PCI expansion slots or add-in connectors.

[0042] An operating system runs on processor 302 and is used tocoordinate and provide control of various components within dataprocessing system 300 in FIG. 3. The operating system may be acommercially available operating system, such as OS/2, which isavailable from International Business Machines Corporation. “OS/2” is atrademark of International Business Machines Corporation.

[0043] Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that thehardware in FIG. 3 may vary depending on the implementation. Forexample, other peripheral devices, such as optical disk drives and thelike, may be used in addition to or in place of the hardware depicted inFIG. 3. The depicted example is not meant to imply architecturallimitations with respect to the present invention. For example, theprocesses of the present invention may be applied to multiprocessor dataprocessing systems. CORBA is a machine independent distributed softwaresystem that resides on a client-server network as depicted in FIGS. 1-3.

[0044] With reference now to FIG. 4 through FIG. 8, a sequence of screenimages illustrate the manipulation of objects with CORBA type ANY inaccordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Thisdisplay of functionality will help in understanding the underlyingsoftware implementation. Care has been taken to create a user-friendlydisplay of the underlying data types. IDL primitive types (e.g., numerictypes) are displayed in a text field that can be edited. Only validentry is allowed, such as characters 0-9 for numeric data. If a numerictype is changed to “string”, then entry of all alphanumeric characters,punctuation, etc., would be allowed. Enumeration types are displayed asdrop down list boxes of all possible values with the current value beingchecked. A boolean is a single check box where unchecked representsfalse and checked represents true. Arrays or sequences are displayed in“tree” form with nodes and leaves displayed in a manner similar to theformat found in Windows Explorer present in Windows 95/98/NT, a productof Microsoft Corporation.

[0045] With reference now to FIG. 4, a screen image illustratesavailable options for an object of type ANY. A click of the right mousebutton on “anAny” will display three options: Copy, Paste, and Type.Copy will transfer the contents of the data representation within theANY component into the system clipboard. Paste will take an object thatis currently contained in the system clipboard and change the currentdata representation to the data contained in the clipboard. The visualdisplay will be updated accordingly. Type will modify both the visualdisplay and the data representation to the type selected. The availabletypes are: null, string, long, ulong (unsigned long), short, ushort(unsigned short), float, double, boolean, char, octet. No conversiontakes place when the type is modified. The contents of the display arecleared when the new type is created. Data entry validation of numericvalues is performed when the type is a numeric type. The validationincludes range testing and acceptable character input. The screen imageshows the submenu under the Type option.

[0046] With reference now to FIG. 5, a screen image shows the change ofType to boolean. Note that a boolean type is displayed as a checkbox andthe value true is indicated by the checkmark in the checkbox.

[0047] In FIG. 4 the drop down list of Type options did not include theenum option since the values of an enumeration type are user-defined.For this case, the copy and paste operations need to be used. In thisexample, which encompass screen images in FIG. 6 through FIG. 8, theobject is called agentRating with the enumeration values of Good, Bad,and NeedsImprovement. FIG. 6 shows the selection of the Copy option thattransfers the object to the system clipboard.

[0048] With reference now to FIG. 7, a paste operation to an object withtype ANY in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention is illustrated. A click of the right mouse button on “anAny”produces the three options noted before: Copy, Paste, and Type. In thiscase, Paste is selected and a submenu with four choices appears:Primitive, Boolean, Enumeration and Object. In this particular case, theoption enumeration is selected. Each of these options is explained indetail in the paragraphs below.

[0049] A primitive CORBA type is null, string, long, ulong (unsignedlong), short, ushort (unsigned short), float, double, char, octet. Eachof these components will display as text entry fields with editingcapabilities appropriate for the datatype. Also, the contents of theCopy component are preserved during the Paste. For example, if the“name” attribute component contained the value “Hello World” and thatcomponent is copied to the system clipboard and subsequently pasted intothe ANY component, not only would the ANY component now supportcharacter string input but it would be initialized with the value “HelloWorld”.

[0050] Pasting a boolean component results with the ANY componentdisplay of a checkbox with the state initialized to the current statethe Copy component, either true (checked) or false (unchecked).

[0051] Pasting an enumeration component results in the display becominga drop down list box with the initially selected item being that itemwhich was selected in the originating Copy component. The list box willcontain the possible items that are applicable for this user defineddata type.

[0052] Pasting a Corba object results in the display depicting thatCORBA object with the name of that CORBA object. The CORBA object may beany complex object such as an array, sequence, structure, etc.

[0053]FIG. 8 is a screen image showing the result of the paste operationon the original enumeration type agentRating. The “anAny” object hasthree possible values, Good, Bad, and NeedsImprovement, with the currentvalue get to “Good”, the value at the time of the copy of agentRating.Of course, the value of the anAny object can be changed to any of theother allowed values.

[0054] Although the snapshots in FIG. 4 through FIG. 8 are based on aJava implementation in accordance with a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, this invention could be implemented in a variety ofprogramming environments where objects are able to describe themselves,called reflection in Java.

[0055] The ANY component implementation is part of the QuickTest systemimplemented in Java. There are three major components of this system.QTAnyField is responsible for the visual presentation andextracting/inserting the data values from/to the CORBA ANY object.QTAnyEditor is responsible for the popup menu processing and invokingthe appropriate methods within the QTAnyField for data type conversion.QTAnyTableCellEditor is responsible for the presentation of theQTAnyField when the component is contained within a Table or Spreadsheettype object.

[0056] In the preferred embodiment of the invention, QTAnyField is asubclass of the Java Swing component named JPanel. This is a containerfor components based on the content of the ANY type. Various visualcomponents will be added/removed to change the screen presentation seenby the user. By inspecting the typecode and contents of the CORBA ANYobject, the components are added to the QTAnyField object and thedisplay values are initialized. Once the new visual component isinstantiated, it is added to the JPanel container and renders itself.The first step of this process is the extracting of data from the CORBAANY object.

[0057] Referring now to FIG. 9, a flowchart of the process of extractingdata from an ANY type is depicted in accordance with the presentinvention. Any existing components are removed (step 900). The kind ofobject is determined based on the CORBA typecode (step 902). Each of thepossible types, ranging from primitive types to complex types, ischecked sequentially and when a match is found, the correspondingcomponent is built. FIG. 9 illustrates two primitive types (null, long)and one complex type (alias). If the object kind equals null (step 904)then a new component is instantiated (step 906), the name for the popupmenu is set to “string” (step 908), and this component is added to theJPanel container (step 910). If the object kind was not null, then nextcheck is for object kind of long (step 912). If the object is of kindlong, then a new component is instantiated (step 914), the text displayof the component value is set to the value of the long integer (step916), the name for the popup menu is set to “long” (step 918), and thiscomponent is added to the JPanel container (step 920). Checking forother kinds and creating corresponding components for the JPanelproceeds in a similar manner. One of the more complex object kinds isalias, which is detected at step 922. A separate routine (step 924)extracts the parts from the alias. This routine is explained in detailin FIG. 11 and FIG. 12 below. The menu choice for “object” is added tothe display (step 926) and the component is added to the JPanelcontainer (step 928). Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciatethat other simple and complex types are handled in a manner similar tothat described for null, long, and alias.

[0058] The Java code taken from a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention is given in FIG. 10. Its logical structure follows theflowchart described above in FIG. 9. The parameter inAny is of typeorg.omg.CORBA.Any. The methods inAny.type().kind() extracts the kind forthe CORBA object inAny. The constructor QTTextField creates the newcomponent. The operation “set” on qtAnyEditor adds the name of theobject to the menu. The operation “add” places a component in acontainer.

[0059] Referring to FIG. 11, a flowchart of the process of extractingdata from an ANY type and building a CopyPaste object is depicted inaccordance with the present invention. Each user-defined object in CORBAhas a Helper class to support the insertion/extraction of ANY. Thisclass is dynamically created and invoked to assist in obtaining thecontents from the ANY. The CopyPaste object, in this instance willcontain the actual data and the user is presented an object thatsupports the CopyPaste behavior. Initially the variables used in theextract process are declared and set to null (step 1102). Since thisprocess is dependent on extracting the Helper classes from the CORBAobject and this process may fail, an exception block and handler (called“try” blocks with “catch” alternatives in both Java and C++) is needed(step 1104). In case of an exception, a failure to extract the aliasobject is reported (step 1106).

[0060] The helper class name is a string that needs to be constructed ina uniform manner (step 1108). The helper class is then created (step1110) and all methods associated with the class obtained (step 1112).The method with the name “extract” needs to be found, if present. Thisis accomplished by sequentially searching the list of methodsone-by-one. As long as there are more methods to be searched (step 1114)in the array of methods, the current method is checked to see if thename is “extract” (step 1116). If so, the parameters are obtained forthe method (step 1118) and the search process is stopped. If the currentmethod is not named extract, the search advances to the next method(step 1120) and control returns to decision 1114. If there are no moremethods to check (in other words, the search has failed), control istransferred to step 1122.

[0061] In step 1122 the extract method is retrieved if it is present (ifnot, the result of retrieval is null). The ANY parameter passed into theextract procedure is put into an array of arguments (step 1124). If theextract method does not exist (step 1126), then the remainder of the TRYblock is skipped. Assuming the extract method does exist, it is invoked(step 1128) to obtain the actual data from the CORBA object. A newCopyPaste object is created in the qtAnyEditor routine (step 1130). Theextracted CORBA object is added to the CopyPaste component (step 1132).The extract process completes by returning the CopyPaste object (step1134).

[0062] The Java code taken from a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention is given in FIG. 12. Its logical structure follows theflowchart described above in FIG. 11. The helper class needs a uniquename that is formed in the following manner: the first four charactersof the class name are removed, the last four characters of the classname are removed, then the string “Helper” is appended on the end of theresulting string. Additionally, any ‘/’ characters are replaced with ‘.’characters. For example, consider the name“IDL:SeqStruct/SeqOfAttempts:1.0”; this name conforms to the IDL namingconvention. The first step removes the “IDL:” prefix. The next stepremoves the “:1.0” suffix. The ‘/’ after SeqStruct is changed to ‘.’ andthe suffix Helper is added to produce “SeqStruct.SeqOfAttemptsHelper”.The Java method “forName” returns the class object associated with thespecified string name.

[0063] The Java method “getDeclaredMethods” returns an array of allmethods associated with a class. This list is searched until a methodnamed “extract” is found. The Java method “getDeclaredMethod” retrievesthe extract method itself. The Class Method named “invoke” actuallycalls the specified method (in this case, the extract method). Once theinformation is extracted from the CORBA object it is added to theCopyPaste object so that it will exhibit the desired copy and pastebehavior shown in FIGS. 6-8.

[0064] Referring to FIG. 13, a flowchart of the process of insertingdata into an ANY type is depicted in accordance with the presentinvention. An empty ANY object is created (step 1300). Next, thecurrently displayed visual component is found (step 1302). The type ofthe displayed component is then determined (step 1304). Each of thepossible types, ranging from primitive types to complex types, ischecked sequentially and when a match is found, the correspondingcomponent is inserted into the ANY object. FIG. 13 illustrates twoprimitive types: string and long. If the object type equals string (step1306) then the value of the string is retrieved (step 1308), and thestring is inserted into the ANY type (step 1310). If the object type wasnot string, then next check is for object type of long (step 1312). Ifthe object is of type long, then the integer value is retrieved (step1314), and this long integer is inserted into the ANY type (step 1316).Checking for other types and inserting corresponding components into theANY type proceeds in a similar manner.

[0065] The Java code taken from a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention is given in FIG. 14. Its logical structure follows theflowchart described above in FIG. 13. An empty object of type ANY iscreated first. The goal is to convert the textfield the user hasselected into an ANY type CORBA object. After verifying the currentlyselected component is an instance of a QTTextField, the component istype cast to a local variable of the QTTestField. The type of thecomponent is retrieved. A sequence of tests in a nested if commandchecks for type string, long, etc. The ANY object has correspondingmethods to insert₁₃string, insert₁₃long, etc. Standard Java proceduresfor getText, getinteger, etc. retrieve the values to be inserted.Handling of primitive types such as these is very straightforward. Thehandling of complex types requires substantially more work.

[0066] Referring to FIG. 15, a flowchart of the process of insertingdata from a complex CopyPaste object to a CORBA ANY type is depicted inaccordance with the present invention. Each user-defined object in CORBAhas a helper class generated to support the insertion/extraction of ANY.This class is dynamically created and invoked to assist in building theANY object. The CopyPaste object contains the actual data and this mustbe inserted into the ANY object. Initially the variables used in theinsert process are declared and initialized (step 1502). Since thisprocess is dependent on inserting the helper classes from the CORBAobject and this process may fail, an exception block and handler isneeded (step 1504). In case of an exception, a failure to insert thecomplex object is reported (step 1506).

[0067] The helper class is created (step 1508) and all methodsassociated with the class obtained (step 1510). The method with the name“insert” needs to be found, if present. This is accomplished bysequentially searching the list of methods one-by-one. As long as thereare more methods to be searched (step 1512) in the array of methods, thecurrent method is checked to see if the name is “insert” (step 1514). Ifso, the parameters are obtained for the method (step 1516) and thesearch process is stopped. If the current method is not named insert,the search advances to the next method (step 1518) and control returnsto decision 1512. If there are no more methods to check (in other words,the search has failed), control is transferred to step 1520.

[0068] In step 1520 the insert method is retrieved if it is present (ifnot, the result will be null). The types in the parameter list arenarrowed as necessary (step 1522). This is a complex step that isfurther refined in FIG. 16 below. If the insert method does not exist(step 1524), then the remainder of the TRY block is skipped. Assumingthe insert method does exist, it is invoked (step 1526). The firstargument value is assigned to the ANY object (step 1528) which is thenreturned (step 1530).

[0069] Referring to FIG. 16, a flowchart of the process of narrowing theparameter types is depicted in accordance with the present invention.Initially two arguments are assigned: the ANY object (step 1602) and theCopyPaste object (step 1604). The latter parameters may be changed ifthey need to be narrowed, as described next. First, it is determined ifthe class name of the CopyPaste object is the same as the firstparameter type in the list of parameters (step 1606). If they are equal,then no type narrowing is needed. If they are not equal, then the listof methods associated with the helper class needs to be searched to finda “narrow” method. First, the list of all methods is retrieved (step1608). A Boolean flag indicated the “narrow” method has been found isset to false (step 1610). As long as there are more methods to besearched (step 1612) in the array of methods, the current method ischecked to see if the name is “narrow” (step 1614). If so, the Booleanflag is set to true and exiting the loop prematurely saves the indexwhere the narrow method was found (step 1616). If the current method isnot named narrow, the search advances to the next method (step 1618) andcontrol returns to decision 1612. If there are no more methods to check(in other words, the search has failed), control is transferred to step1620.

[0070] If a narrowing method was not found (step 1620) this portion ofthe algorithm is finished. However, if a narrowing method is found, itis applied to the old parameter (step 1622). The result is then used tooverwrite the old value (step 1624).

[0071] The Java code taken from a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention is given in FIG. 17. Its logical structure follows theflowcharts described above in FIG. 15 and FIG. 16. The helper classneeds a unique name that is formed by appending the word “Helper” ontothe CopyPaste name.

[0072] The Java method “getDeclaredMethods” returns an array of allmethods associated with a class. This list is searched until a methodnamed “insert” is found. The Java method “getDeclaredMethod” retrievesthe insert method itself. It may be necessary to narrow the type inwhich case the methods are searched for a method named “narrow”. If sucha method is found, it is invoked to create a new object that overwritesthe old type. The insert method that was found earlier is now used toput the data into a CORBA object of type ANY. Now the system has fullcopy and paste capability as previously described in FIGS. 6-8.

[0073] It is important to note that, while the present invention hasbeen described in the context of a fully functioning data processingsystem, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that theprocesses of the present invention are capable of being distributed inthe form of a computer readable medium of instructions and a variety offorms, and that the present invention applies equally regardless of theparticular type of signal bearing media actually used to carry out thedistribution. Examples of computer readable media includerecordable-type media such a floppy disc, a hard disk drive, a RAM, andCD-ROMs and transmission-type media such as digital and analogcommunications links.

[0074] The description of the present invention has been presented forpurposes of illustration and description but is not intended to beexhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art. For instance, the depiction of a multi-dimensional arraycould be represented using a tree component with each node of the treecontaining some elementary or primitive data type. This entire visualcomponent and associated data type, that is, array or sequence, couldalso be depicted in this embodiment. The embodiment was chosen anddescribed in order to best explain the principles of the invention andthe practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in theart to understand the invention for various embodiments with variousmodifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for processing data stored aself-describing object, the method comprising the computer-implementedsteps of: identifying the contents of the self-describing object;displaying the contents of the self-describing object in a graphicaluser interface; displaying graphical controls, wherein the graphicalcontrols are used to manipulate the contents of the self-describingobject; modifying the contents of the self-describing object in responseto user input to graphical controls in the graphical user interface; andconstructing a new self-describing object in response to user input tographical controls in the graphical user interface.
 2. The method inclaim 1, wherein the self-describing object contains helper classes toprocess the object.
 3. The method in claim 1, wherein primitive typesnull, string, long, ulong (unsigned long), short, ushort (unsignedshort), float, double, char, and octet are displayed directly in textboxes in the graphical user interface.
 4. The method in claim 3, whereinthe user can edit the contents of the text boxes in the graphical userinterface.
 5. The method in claim 1, wherein a boolean type is displayedas a checkbox in the graphical user interface with a simple toggle tochange value.
 6. The method in claim 1, wherein an enumerated type isdisplayed in the graphical user interface as a drop-down list and thevalue of the enumerated type is modified by selecting a different listitem.
 7. The method in claim 1, wherein a complex object is an array,structure, or sequence of other allowed types, including other complexobjects.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein a complex object is displayedin the graphical user interface in tree form with nodes and leaves. 9.The method of claim 1 further comprising: displaying graphicalindications of possible changes to the contents displayed in thegraphical user interface.
 10. The method in claim 9, whereinconstructing a new self-describing object can be performed by a sequenceof copy and paste operations using the graphical controls in thegraphical user interface.
 11. The method in claim 10, wherein copying isfrom any allowed self-describing object to a clipboard.
 12. The methodin claim 10, wherein pasting is from a clipboard to a newself-describing object.
 13. A method for processing data stored as aCORBA ANY object, the method comprising the computer-implemented stepsof: decomposing and displaying the contents of the CORBA ANY object inan easily understood form; modifying the contents of the CORBA ANYobject in an intuitive point-and-click environment; and constructing anew CORBA ANY object from other CORBA objects.
 14. The method in claim13, wherein the CORBA ANY object is a self-describing type based onInterface Definition Language types.
 15. The method in claim 13, whereinthe CORBA ANY object contains helper classes to insert, extract, andnarrow items.
 16. The method in claim 13, wherein primitive types null,string, long, ulong (unsigned long), short, ushort (unsigned short),float, double, char, and octet are displayed directly with type-incapability to change values.
 17. The method in claim 13, wherein aboolean type is displayed as a check box with a simple toggle to changevalue.
 18. The method in claim 13, wherein an enumerated type isdisplayed as a drop-down list and the value is modified by selecting adifferent list item.
 19. The method in claim 13, wherein a complexobject is an array, structure, or sequence of other allowed InterfaceDefinition Language types, including other complex objects.
 20. Themethod in claim 13, wherein constructing a new CORBA ANY object can beperformed by a sequence of copy and paste operations.
 21. The method inclaim 20, wherein copying is from any allowed Interface DefinitionLanguage object to the new CORBA ANY object.
 22. The method in claim 20,wherein pasting is from a CORBA ANY object to any allowed InterfaceDefinition Language object.
 23. A data processing system formanipulating a CORBA ANY object, the data processing system comprising:a means for decomposing and displaying the contents of a CORBA ANY typein an easily understood form; a means for modifying the contents of aCORBA ANY TYPE in an intuitive point-and-click environment; and a meansfor constructing a new CORBA ANY object from other CORBA objects. 24.The data processing system of claim 23 wherein the CORBA ANY object is aself-describing type based on Interface Definition Language types andcontains helper classes to insert, extract, and narrow items.
 25. Thedata processing system of claim 23 wherein primitive types null, string,long, ulong (unsigned long), short, ushort (unsigned short), float,double, char, and octet are displayed directly with type-in capabilityto change values.
 26. The data processing system of claim 23 wherein aboolean type is displayed as checkbox with a simple toggle to changevalue and an enumerated type is displayed as a drop-down list withselection of one value from an item list.
 27. The data processing systemof claim 23 wherein a complex object is an array, structure, or sequenceof other allowed Interface Definition Language types, including othercomplex objects.
 28. The data processing system of claim 23 whereinconstructing a new CORBA ANY object can be performed by a sequence ofcopy and paste operations.
 29. A computer program product on acomputer-readable medium for use in a network workstation for processingCORBA objects of type ANY, the computer program product comprising:instructions for decomposing the contents of a CORBA ANY object;instructions for displaying the contents of a CORBA ANY object;instructions for modifying the contents of a CORBA ANY object;instructions for copying data from any allowed Interface DefinitionLanguage object to a CORBA ANY object, and instructions for pasting datafrom a CORBA ANY object to any allowed Interface Definition Languageobject.
 30. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the dataobject that is processed may be primitive or complex.
 31. The computerprogram product of claim 30 wherein the primitive object is one of thefollowing types: null, string, long, ulong (unsigned long), short,ushort (unsigned short), float, double, boolean, char, octet.
 32. Thecomputer program product of claim 30, wherein a complex type is anarray, structure, or sequence of any other type, including complex typesthemselves; and
 33. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein aneasily understood graphical computer interface allows users to display,modify, and construct CORBA ANY objects.